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The second book in David Brin's second Uplift trilogy is a magnificent addition to one of science fiction's most ambitious and compelling series. The six races had been living in exile on the planet Jijo for two thousand years before they were discovered by the Five Galaxies. Now they are alone again, but they know it is only a reprieve . . . Fleeing across space following an alien attack on Earth, the spaceship Streaker finds itself stranded near an uninhabited planet. Kaa is sent to the surface to investigate. All seems quiet. He doesn't yet know that the planet is Jijo.

More About the Author

David Brin is a scientist, public speaker and world-known author. His novels have been New York Times Bestsellers, winning multiple Hugo, Nebula and other awards. At least a dozen have been translated into more than twenty languages.

David's latest novel - Existence - is set forty years ahead, in a near future when human survival seems to teeter along not just on one tightrope, but dozens, with as many hopeful trends and breakthroughs as dangers... a world we already see ahead. Only one day an astronaut snares a small, crystalline object from space. It appears to contain a message, even visitors within. Peeling back layer after layer of motives and secrets may offer opportunities, or deadly peril.

David's non-fiction book -- The Transparent Society: Will Technology Make Us Choose Between Freedom and Privacy? -- deals with secrecy in the modern world. It won the Freedom of Speech Award from the American Library Association.

A 1998 movie, directed by Kevin Costner, was loosely based on his post-apocalyptic novel, The Postman. Brin's 1989 ecological thriller - Earth - foreshadowed global warming, cyberwarfare and near-future trends such as the World Wide Web. David's novel Kiln People has been called a book of ideas disguised as a fast-moving and fun noir detective story, set in a future when new technology enables people to physically be in more than two places at once. A hardcover graphic novel The Life Eaters explored alternate outcomes to WWII, winning nominations and high praise.

David's science fictional Uplift Universe explores a future when humans genetically engineer higher animals like dolphins to become equal members of our civilization. These include the award-winning Startide Rising, The Uplift War, Brightness Reef, Infinity's Shore and Heaven's Reach. He also recently tied up the loose ends left behind by the late Isaac Asimov: Foundation's Triumph brings to a grand finale Asimov's famed Foundation Universe.

Brin serves on advisory committees dealing with subjects as diverse as national defense and homeland security, astronomy and space exploration, SETI and nanotechnology, future/prediction and philanthropy.

As a public speaker, Brin shares unique insights -- serious and humorous -- about ways that changing technology may affect our future lives. He appears frequently on TV, including several episodes of "The Universe" and History Channel's "Life After People." He also was a regular cast member on "The ArciTECHS."

Brin's scientific work covers an eclectic range of topics, from astronautics, astronomy, and optics to alternative dispute resolution and the role of neoteny in human evolution. His Ph.D in Physics from UCSD - the University of California at San Diego (the lab of nobelist Hannes Alfven) - followed a masters in optics and an undergraduate degree in astrophysics from Caltech. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the California Space Institute. His technical patents directly confront some of the faults of old-fashioned screen-based interaction, aiming to improve the way human beings converse online.

Product Description

Amazon Review

This second volume in David Brin's new Uplift trilogy is an epic tale that artfully combines dozens of unique characters and their individual stories. The planet Jijo, which has been settled by six separate races despite a decree that it remain barren for a million years, is about to change. The exploration ship Streaker, on the run since discovering the secrets of a two-billion-year-old derelict fleet, has arrived with virtually the entire universe in pursuit. Overnight the peaceful, technologically backwards Jijoan society erupts into civil war, creating a chaotic tapestry of grief, sorrow, joy, love and, ultimately, hope.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Peace has endured on the world of Jijo, where six races shelter from the wider civilisation of the Five Galaxies, for decades. That peace has now been shattered by the arrival of a starship of the Jophur, a powerful Galactic race, searching for the fugitive Terran exploration vessel Streaker and the billion-year-old secrets it contains. As members of the six races struggle to survive under the brutal Jophur occupation, the crew of the beleaguered Streaker realise they must draw the Jophur away from Jijo and its innocent population, even if the cost is their own destruction...

Infinity's Shore, the fifth and penultimate book in David Brin's Uplift Saga, picks up moments after the end of Brightness Reef, with the arrival of a Jophur warship spelling disaster for the refugee nations of the Slope. The opening of the novel successfully gets across the scale of this chaos, with the Jophur brutally 'altering' the traeki ambassador Asx with the imposition of a master ring (traeki are gestalt entities consisting of independently intelligent rings which combine to form a sentient being; Jophur have a 'master ring' which dominates and controls the others), slaughtering some of the inhabitants ruthlessly and then engaging in clandestine negotiations with criminal elements to try and splinter the six races from one another. We briefly met the Jophur in Startide Rising, but Infinity's Shore delves much more deeply into their characters and we discover how unpleasant they can really be. This is emphasised by an interesting narrative device, where the first-person musings of Asx in the previous novel continue, but now under the aegis of 'Ewasx', the same being now perverted into a full Jophur.Read more ›

I came new to David Brin - perhaps not sensible to start with the second volume of a trilogy, but I must say I was disappointed. I think there is a good novel in here struggling to get out, but it is a struggle. Brin tries to juggle too many characters and too many alien races, with the result that very few of them come to life and the characterisation in particular is weak in the vast majority of cases. The plot certainly has the potential to be excellent, but ends up falling short. Brin drifts away into side-roads and dead-ends which seem entirely irrelevant to the main story, and he has a strange reluctance to describe the big set-piece scenes in detail, instead we are often treated to some of the characters simply discussing what happened, which drains tension out of the book at the very points when it should be building. There were good bits, and one or two clever twists, but I found it a bit self-indulgent and far too long for what it was, and I gave up trying to separate out many of the characters and even one or two of the races. On the other hand, if you like your science fiction slow, quite complex, and stretched out, then this is probably the book for you - though I'd say Kim Stanley Robinson does it much better and with more conviction.

I really enjoyed Infinity's Shore. I felt the storyline, with the blend of new characters from Jijo, and the dolphins from the 2nd book of the first Uplift Trilogy, Brightness Reef, really worked well. I obviously don't want to give too much of the plot away, but I can't help mentioning the ingenious analogue computers, or the wheelers - a unique species runing on wheels, designed for artificial habitats.I thoroughly recommend this book, althoughperhaps not as much as Brightness Reef or the Uplift War by the same author.

I love this book series. It is one of the true contenders for a modern sci-fi classics. It has the right mix of adventure, dreams of the future and does not trivialise choice. I've re-read them many times and enjoyed it every one of them.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

Amazon.com:
1 review

A 'must read author' at his very best6 Oct. 2012

By
Peter Eerden
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Kindle Edition
Verified Purchase

I have just concluded reading the uplift series of books and have been an avid fan. Complex characters litter the pages and it has been a delight to see them progress. The original three books were for me the 'real deal' in what I see as a master class of science fiction writing and David Brin is one of only a dozen writers on my 'must read list' and that list includes all the genres I am interested in. As a reviewer of Science fiction for many years David Brin was one writer I missed completely so I am diligently going through his whole catalogue. None have disappointed to date. I am grateful to note that David has left the door open for a possible return to Uplift Space in the future though I hope that moment will not be too far away. I started my love affair with science fiction with the purchase of a first edition copy of I Robots by Mr Asimov. SF might span galaxies and billions of years but I must have my David Brin fix before my body is fed to the dross for regeneration. Five stars Mr Brin.